Consider for a moment how much has changed in the space of a week. Industries shut down overnight. State borders closed. All manner of social gatherings limited in numbers. You could add to this list. 

Seemingly, COVID-19 has also changed our concept of time. Decisions need to be made more quickly. Some timeframes shortened unbelievably, others extended to an unknown endpoint. Many are working under intense time pressures. Others now have more time on their hands than they could have conceived of just a few weeks or even days ago.

In moving to learning@home our teachers have taken on a project in the past three weeks that, in ordinary times, we would have given some years to plan and implement. No doubt, all sorts of industries and organisations have been forced to change their timeframes. COVID-19 has required us to be resourceful, creative and to solve problems that have arisen overnight. Our teachers have done this while continuing to operate school in the regular ways. Wednesday was an important opportunity to advance the development of learning@home and more teachers across the school will expand the trial with their classes in what remains of the term. Learning@home will be fully operational at Nudgee College for the start of next term but we are not there yet. Parents have already received information on this project and we will continue to update and inform you of just what this means for you as a parent and your son as a student.

Understandably, the number of students absent from school has continued to increase and while the Government has been saying school is in, parents are making a different decision. This situation is untenable and I am thankful that Queensland authorities have decided this week to end schooling for the term and enable teachers to fully focus on further curriculum development next week. The school has been in solidarity with other schools in the Catholic sector who have also been attempting to remain in alignment with the Government sector. I will advise parents of the details for end of term in the weekly COVID-19 update.

While the virus is a health issue it is now also having a devastating effect economically. Overnight businesses have closed and people have become unemployed. Our parent body is not immune to that impact. Even in more normal circumstances I know many of our families make significant sacrifices to send their children to our school and every day we strive to deliver the highest quality education and pastoral care for all students. As ever, any family facing financial difficulty for any reason should contact our Credit Manager, Mr Jeff O'Sullivan, in the first instance to discuss your situation. We are acutely aware of the hardships being experienced right across the community and we will do all we can to facilitate the ongoing education of all students.

Finally, I share with you the news of the passing of long term staff member Ms Wilma Peters. Wilma had operated the canteen on the Flats during Cricket, Rugby and Football seasons over many years. Due to ill-health Wilma has not been as present in recent times as she once had been and therefore she may be unknown by newer members of the community. Wilma always made an impression on those who met her. It would be fair to say, and not disrespectful of Wilma, that this impression was not always favourable. She was often cranky and called a spade a shovel. But she loved Nudgee College and her faithful service at the Flats was her way of honouring a commitment given years ago. 

I share with you, in part, an email received early this week about Wilma from her family.

As you would be aware, Wilma was diagnosed with bowel cancer a few years ago. She underwent chemotherapy, radium therapy and surgery in an effort to rid herself of the disease but unfortunately this was unsuccessful and it later spread throughout her body…

Wilma was in and out of hospital in the past year but around six weeks ago she was admitted to the Prince Charles Palliative Care Ward…

Those who knew Wilma, would know she was a very stubborn and determined woman. Even while ill and in her last days she still managed to give the nurses a hard time, bossing them around and telling them that they “are not doing it right” or that they “didn’t know what they were doing”. The only nurses that she liked were the ones that knew how to handle her humour and give it back in return...

I would like to specifically thank members of the Property and Services team for coming to visit.  These visits really were the highlight of her days and she very much appreciated the flowers and all the video messages from ‘her boys’. Wilma would sit and play these videos over and over because she loved her Nudgee College family more than anything else…

When Wilma started to feel the effects of her illness, she really struggled to come to terms with the fact she could no longer go to Nudgee. She wanted to be there more than anything but her poor body just couldn’t do it. The hardest thing for her to come to terms with was, the realisation she had to give this away. During her last days she even said “if I could be there now I would be”, along with a smile. When the Flats facility was named after her, she thought it was the best thing that ever happened to her. It was truly meaningful as she loved everything Nudgee College stood for and often talked about her plaque.  

Wilma Peters passed away shortly before 2.00pm on Saturday 21 March 2020. I understand that there may be people that would like to say goodbye and that general expectation is for a funeral, but even though Wilma was a big personality, she was still a very private person and as such did not want a funeral or service, she was quite content with the way it was and she would like you to remember her the way she was and know you were all very special to her.  

I have often said that Nudgee College has a big story, but within that story there are countless smaller, inspiring stories of people from different walks of life. They embrace Nudgee College and Nudgee College embraces them. Wilma’s story is one of those smaller stories. Wilma was one of the 10,000 others who cared and supported the 10,000 brothers. 

In the final days of her life I made a promise to Wilma that I intend to honour. That is that the Flats canteen, when it is eventually redeveloped in the years to come, will always be named in her honour. May Wilma’s spirit always look over those who visit and play on the Flats. May she rest in peace.

Mr Peter Fullagar
Principal

This week I am continuing on from the article I wrote last week. Amid all the uncertainty around a certain virus and related events, I think this article sums up a key consideration for us all.

The facilitator at my course in Melbourne a few weeks back suggested there are three pillars to creating a harmonious, accepting community - respect, resilience and relationships. The more I read and hear with regard to building, maintaining and enhancing positive mental, physical and spiritual health, the more I believe that these three elements are paramount. They also, not surprisingly, underpin the whole concept of RUOK? Day.

It is only by respecting others that we can come to care about how they are coping; it is only by developing resilience that we can deal with the challenges of life; and it is only through building strong, meaningful relationships that we can feel connected and we can help each other through difficult times. And how appropriate is that concept right now!

When people are struggling, there are usually signs that we can pick up on and which can be a prompt for us to have a conversation with them about how they are travelling. Similarly, we know within ourselves how we start to feel when pressure is building up. It is important for us to find people with whom we can talk, as well as developing our own techniques to ease those feelings.

More than ever, as a community who prides itself on caring for each other, let’s make sure we ‘take more notice’.

Mr David Johnston
Deputy Principal

Social Justice

To continue our mission of building a better world for all amidst this crisis, we are asking for donations of towels and blankets for the Emmanuel City Mission. We are currently taking food over there each Tuesday morning and plan on doing this for as long as we can. This week the mission specifically asked if we had any blankets and towels. We will be opening Ed's Shed at 7.30am next Tuesday, and every subsequent week until it is no longer possible, to allow anyone who is able to donate these items to do so. Additional food items would also be very much appreciated. For more information, please contact me on ske@nudgee.qld.edu.au.

Ms Sian Kennedy
Director of Identity

Learning@home

On Wednesday teaching staff continued their preparation for learning@home. We addressed further technical aspects on Google Meet and in the Hapara document sharing platform. We also spent faculty time transforming lessons and assessment into formats suitable for online delivery. We have sent home information over the last couple of days and include it below for your reference:

• Learning@home at a Glance
• Covid-19 Update: Planning Day on Wednesday 25 March

School is open tomorrow and forthcoming advice regarding next week will dictate our decisions about the roll out of learning@home. Thank you for working with us as we reimagine learning frameworks during this time.

Mr Jason Sepetauc
Dean of Learning and Teaching

NAPLAN

On Friday last week, the College received advice from the Education Council that 2020 NAPLAN will not proceed. This decision has been made to assist school leaders, teachers and support staff to focus on the wellbeing of students and continuity of education, including potential online and remote learning. Furthermore, the impact of responses to the COVID-19 virus may affect the delivery of NAPLAN testing and have implications for nationally comparable data. The College will continue to use other formative and summative assessment items to assess the development of your son’s literacy and numeracy skills, including in an event where we transition to the learning@home program. 

Ms Natalie Webber
Director of Learning and Teaching

Science Update

In Term 1, Year 8 Science classes have focussed on the biology of plants and animals. More specifically, students have been studying digestive systems and reproductive systems. Squid dissections assisted students to investigate parts of the digestive system. They also performed flower dissections, which allowed students to understand the asexual reproductive systems.

By Liam Astbury & Amitoj Sidhu

The squid dissection took place during Week 4. We used scissors to cut the squid open and then viewed parts of the digestive system of the squid. Our squid’s digestive system was a bit unclear to view some parts as they were hidden behind other internal parts of the squid. Furthermore, we used the squid’s ink to write our initials on paper. It was a bit graphic for some boys but overall a good learning experience.

In Week 6 we participated in the flower dissection and we were investigating how flowers reproduce asexually. We looked at the three different types of asexual reproduction, budding, regeneration and fission. We then dissected a lily and separated each part of the reproductive system. This cross-section of a lily details the purpose of all the parts that we looked at as a class. 

In conclusion, these dissections were extremely fun, beneficial to our science knowledge and they engaged all Year 8 students.

Mr Pat Conway
Head of Science Faculty

Last night our family discussion involved what we will do to stay sane as a family in a probable lockdown – exercise, cook together, who is using what space for school work or work, is the spare room becoming a home gym, etc. By the end of any lockdown period, my stepson will be able to sew a button on a shirt and cook a couple of meals – but don’t tell him that.

Maybe it’s the ‘school teacher’ in me, but I believe strongly in routine and family ritual. Boys thrive on that and those things will hold us in a good place in the months to come. 

I reproduce today for this column a good article from Australian website, ‘The Conversation’, on that theme:

Create a routine early

Children and teenagers thrive on routine. Some children may also experience anxiety about what is happening, and a new routine can help provide them with a sense of normalcy.

Plan a rough daily routine with times for different activities: school work, exercise, chores, creativity or free play, and time on digital devices.

Research also suggests children should be involved in negotiating their routines as this helps support their empowerment. Older teenagers, who may be used to managing their affairs, may only require minor prompts to help with their routine.

By creating a rough routine, you allow children to know what to expect. For example, you can show children the times you will be fully available to them and the times you will be working or busy.

Where schoolwork is offered online, and you find yourself in the role of teaching support, a routine also allows children to know when your ‘teacher hat’ is on and when it comes off again.

Help them get exercise

Many sporting activities have been cancelled for this season. Yet exercise is critical for young people’s physical and mental health.

Think creatively about the activities children and teenagers can do when confined to the home. Opportunities for exercise might include a mini bootcamp in the backyard, an obstacle course through the house, physically active video games (dance, fitness, boxing), or kid-friendly dance and yoga classes on YouTube.

Primary-aged children are likely to love having their parents involved in such activities, and research shows parent support for exercise and role modelling improves teenagers’ exercise participation.

Help them stay social

Social distancing measures reduce children’s capacity to socialise with friends. What this means may differ depending on the age of your child.

Deep emotional connections with friends are extremely important for teenagers and many will turn to social media to discuss their feelings. Yet recent research has shown teenagers who go online for emotional support may experience more worry. This may be because the quality of support they find there may be poor, and they may also experience uncertainty about some of the messages they encounter.

You can encourage teenagers to continue using social media to bond with friends and peers, but to take regular breaks and share their bigger worries with parents. If they hear any alarming information about COVID-19 from their friends, it’s important to remind them to verify the information by checking with reputable sources – like the Australian government’s website.

While primary-age children’s friendships may be less emotionally intense than teenagers’, they may still miss the company of their friends during an extended period of isolation. Research with children isolated due to hospitalisation shows digital devices can be effective in providing a sense of connection with peers.

Supervised FaceTime, Zoom or Skype play-dates may also help provide this connection. And children can write letters or draw cards to then photograph and send digitally to friends and family.

Think beyond Netflix

Harnessing your child or teenager’s interests is key to engaging them in new activities, especially when Netflix or video games are the alternative.

Talk to your child about a new skill they would like to learn or a place they would like to visit, and investigate real and virtual possibilities for accessing these. There are endless opportunities to learn new skills together through online platforms such as YouTube. 

You could teach children games and skills you enjoy (such as cooking, chess, coding or science experiments). Virtual excursions promote interest and learning, and these are offered by many museums and zoos around the world. Try these links for some ideas:

• Virtual museum tour 
• Virtual zoo tour

You can teach children skills you enjoy.

Children and teenagers are also strongly motivated by ‘achievable challenges’. Think creatively about challenges you could take together. Perhaps a family step challenge to keep everyone healthy.

You could build a fort with every Lego block in the house, choose five board games for a family tournament or fix a neglected area of the garden.

Children’s ability to sustain and direct attention increases across time, so it is useful to plan these activities with your own child’s attention skills in mind. By rotating activities regularly, and aiming to complete one or two each day, it becomes easier over time to limit passive TV viewing.

Children and teenagers stuck at home may become bored, experience increased conflict with family, or express stress and frustration in unhelpful ways. When you observe lapses in emotional control (such as temper tantrums), it is important to place these in context.

It can be useful to acknowledge how your child is feeling, and help them develop resilient emotional responses by problem-solving a path forward together. Encourage them to go outside for a walk – maybe take the family dog and get some Vitamin D shown to improve mood and the immune system, or go for a run or a bike ride. All of these activities can be done while social distancing, will burn energy and will help distract them from boredom.

I wish everyone all the very best in the weeks ahead. We will definitely stay connected with you from Nudgee College. 

God bless.

Mr Peter Todd
Dean of Students

With almost all boarders now having returned home or into the care of family, I would like to extend my thank you to everyone for your support and positive comments in what has been an incredibly difficult few weeks. The process of slowly emptying the Boarding Houses and ensuring families and most importantly boys felt cared for and attended to was an incredible task performed by all our Boarding staff. A special thank you to Heads of Boarding House who led this over the last few weeks. I hope all boys will enjoy some rest in what has been a stressful term, and I am particularly thinking of the Hodda family. 

Yesterday all teachers spent the day working on readying themselves for online teaching and learning. I want to thank our Dean of Teaching and Learning Mr Jason Sepetauc and his team for their leadership and preparing our teachers to go online. Many teachers have started that process already with blended online lessons that boarders have dialled in for. I have no doubt that when we have to go online boys will receive comprehensive and engaging lessons from teaching staff. Families, please don’t be worried about assessment as all boys who had to leave will be given special consideration and understanding for their term result.

With respect to starting back next term we'll be guided by state and federal decisions as well as linking with our Edmund Rice Education Australia and Queensland Catholic Education Commission teams. Mr Peter Fullagar will communicate these details throughout the next few weeks.

Staying Connected

What will be crucial if we shut down is Boarding families and boys still feeling connected. Myself and Heads of Boarding House are working this week and next week to ensure that each Boarding House is able to effectively connect online, and boys are linked with pastoral support (both with Boarding staff, teaching staff and our counselling team). We will also have a comprehensive academic support program to support boys’ online learning. Whilst self-isolation to many boys might seem like a holiday, I think we can all agree it is going to be very challenging. In my video message to boys on Sunday night I encouraged them and their families to reach out for support if they need it. The most important concept to remember over these challenging times is even if the Nudgee College gates are closed, our community never rests. Someone is always on hand to help. This is never more evident than in our Boarding community. 

Mr Christian Oneto
Dean of Boarding

World’s Greatest Shave

Congratulations to the Nudgee College students and staff who raised more than $20,000 (a new Nudgee College record) for the Leukaemia Foundation.

Although the College’s shave event was postponed, some members of the team decided to shave themselves to support the cause while social distancing.

Mr Ken Adams
Fogarty House Dean